The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies ed. by Stephen W. Angell, Pink Dandelion (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies ed. by Stephen W. Angell, Pink Dandelion Stephen J. Stein The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies. Ed. By Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion. xix +644 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $170. The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies is a valuable resource for understanding the history and the contemporary situation of the Religious Society of Friends especially in North America and the British Isles. This volume is comprised of thirty-seven essays organized into four parts by scholars almost exclusively from those two geographical areas as well as a useful Introduction written jointly by Pink Dandelion of the University of Birmingham and Stephen W. [End Page 52] Angell of the Earlham School of Religion. This collection focuses on particular periods of Quaker history, specific theological or spiritual issues linked to the Friends, life practices that reflect the Society’s religious views, and the unique ways that Quakers give expression to their diverse judgments. In the editors’ own words, “This book charts Quaker history and the history of its expressions as a religious community.” [p. 1] Without question, this Oxford Handbook belongs in every public library and also in all research collections focusing on religion and culture. The eight essays in Part I of this volume deal with the history of global Quakerism from the time of its founding by George Fox in the seventeenth century down to 2010. They chart the multiple diverse traditions which developed within Quakerism, such as the Hicksite, the Modernist, and the Evangelical movements, just to mention three of the branches. Part II, comprised of nine essays, focuses on diverse themes and issues involved with Quaker theology and spirituality, including classic topics such as God and Christ, sin and scripture, as well as worship and sacraments. Part III, the largest section, embraces fourteen essays that document the variety of issues on which Quakerism possesses a distinctive religious witness such as concerns for simplicity, peacemaking, antislavery, and family values. Part IV includes six chapters which explore the diverse ways Quaker values and views are expressed through print and visual cultures as well as by means of science and philosophy. The historical essays in Part I are extremely helpful for understanding the religious complexity within contemporary Quakerism. These essays force anyone who wishes to portray all contemporary Friends in the image of George Fox or William Penn to broaden their understanding of this tradition as they are introduced to the different religious movements within Quakerism that have developed over more than 350 years. Hicksite, Orthodox, and Evangelical Quakers, for example, stand apart from Modernist and Liberal Quakers. The essays in this section focus on the diverse movements that are part of the history of Quakerism and in many cases are still present yet today. The first essay in Part II strikes a valuable opening note for the essays that follow dealing with Quaker theology and spirituality. Quaker theology is described as “theoretically non-creedal,” “theoretically non-sacramental,” “largely experiential,” and “mystical.” These characteristics are indirectly explored and examined in the diverse essays that follow in this section of the volume. One of the most obvious elements that emerges is the astonishing diversity within the ranks of the Quakers. Quaker Quietists, Wilburites, Gurneyites, Conservative Friends, Evangelical Friends, Friends General, Buddhist-Quakers, Jewish-Quakers—these are but some of the diverse theological and religious wings within the larger family of Quakerism. The essays in this second section of the volume focus on particular theological issues, such as Christ, sin, scripture, eschatology, and sacraments, concerns which divide Quaker traditions and define the diverse factions within the worldwide movement of Friends. [End Page 53] Part III entitled “Quaker Witness” documents the distinctive life patterns and social positions taken by Friends over the course of three and a half centuries. These essays articulate critical ethical stances affirming simplicity, peace-making, and philanthropy; and they demonstrate the structured ways and means by which Friends pursue and/or foster such values. Those means include religious patterns evident in Quaker preaching and traveling ministries as well as reform efforts directed against slavery, war, and violence in prisons. Quakers also address problems in the areas of education, business, and...